Catch Your Wings: The Crazy Adventure of Two Lost Hearts
by SCIK1012
Summary: Catastrophe dropped her into a new world where everything is topsy-turvy and nothing makes sense. It's in here where Flame Princess is unfairly punished, losing her memory to a tricky curse. Her fate then falls in the hands of Finn the Human, who will have to fight back her naïve growing feelings for him as they venture further into the unknown, searching for her true identity.


**Catch Your Wings: The Crazy Adventure of Two Lost Hearts**

_**Prologue:**_** Down the Rabbit Hole**

The young human turned to the serious fire elemental beside him, her eyes where blazing as intensely as ever and her smile remained hidden beneath her silent features. Finn admired her new looks, the flaring crown topping her hair, the elegant armor covering her body, and all the awesomeness that she inspired. A chill ran down his spine as the grass perished beneath the weight of her feet, sending out a quiet hiss. Her march was firm and determined.

The might of a king was embossed all over her. That fearless glance, those gripped fists and that steady pace, all of them traits of a respected ruler. No one would ever dare to stand against her; it could only end badly for them. Flame Princess, now known as Flame King, had a nerve to be feared and the strength of a thousand suns. Potential rivals have melted to her feet, bowing in both fear and admiration. However, for someone that hot, running a kingdom on her own had turned her pretty cold.

The passion, repressed and contained in a mental lantern, was no longer there to ignite her flames. Finn wasn't exactly a smart guy, but he was able to notice this before everyone else did, even Flame Princess herself. The boy remembered an innocent princess, playing with a patch of flowers on a fresh summer night. He remembered her, full of energy, eager to learn and discover the wonders of the world. Childish and playful, explosive and caring, sweet violent Princess of Flames, where had she gone?

There was a time when sharing a stroll through the Grasslands with her wasn't this awkward, when the young hero didn't have to push his brain, thinking every word before speaking them out, to avoid any slipping lies. There was a time when going out with the fiery princess had a different taste, instead of being as bittersweet as it was now, it used to be spicy. Like a fizzling cinnamon mint, stinging the tip of his tongue. It was the taste of burning hugs and wishful stares.

Ah yes, when being in love wasn't a crime, and the hero and his princess could simply share a picnic blanket for as long as they wanted. Many afternoons of basket sandwiches and marshmallows were still craved in his memory. When after lunch, they would let out a relaxed sigh and melt into each other's eyes for hours and hours, dreaming of that perfect kiss that nature had banned from them. Oh how he missed those days, how much he wished she'd accept him as her boyfriend again.

But let's face the truth; Flame Princess wasn't interested in that junk anymore. Finn could only see her as a King now, too busy, too responsible, too old even. His childish FP was long gone. She died of sadness on a tragic day, drifting into the sunset of her broken heart among melting mountains and ice. Finn had his chance and he messed it up, wasting the best thing that had ever happened to him. Her friendship was all he had left, and the human boy considered himself lucky for this, for he didn't deserve that privilege.

"How much further should we go, Finn?" the fire girl's voice popped up.

How much further until Princess Bubblegum's underground volcano? Ah yes! The one and only reason of why they were walking together along the Grasslands like in the old days. If their hands were wrapped in tinfoil or covered with funny kitchen mitts so that they could entwine their shy fingers once again, it would have been exactly the same. But this wasn't a date —no, if only it was one— this was an expedition for research.

A few days ago the gummy princess had stumbled upon a new discovery, an extremely dangerous yet captivating force of nature. It began with a pestilent stench that engulfed the area, sulfur. Then the once green and dewy grass withered, the trees lost all of their foliage, and the nearby waters began to boil and bubble as if they had been sprinkled with a giant's fistful of baking soda. Death and desolation spread across the polluted meadow. A dormant volcano had awakened in the bowels of the earth.

Based on Princess Bubblegum's geological analyses, there was a great amount of contained energy waiting to be unleashed, and if the explosion wasn't properly controlled, planet Earth will have a new giant crater, bitten off from outer space perspective. The day of the eruption was due to today, and only one fire elemental in all of Ooo was suited to face the risky task awaiting her in the planet's core. According to Bubblegum, if two equal forces collided and remained converged for an exact amount of time, both would be stabilized… a very tempting opportunity for the young King, whose elemental matrix still represented a threat to the world.

"Just a few more steps, Princess–I mean Queen! I mean! King?"

Amidst all the potential chaos that was about to reach its boiling point beneath their very feet, Finn the Human had been left to convince the flaming ruler and bring her to the restricted area in time to meet Princess Bubblegum, and prevent hell from erupting into Ooo. But even if he was the designed hero of the land, his task ended there. From that point and onward it was Flame Princess' responsibility to enter the fire and keep the people of Ooo safe. It was quite disappointing for the boy to be left as a mere observer while his ex-lady risked her life down there. He didn't want her to go alone, but Bubblegum had spoken the final word, his fireproof suit wasn't strong enough to cope with the heat in the guts of the earth.

"What's the matter, Finn? You can still call me FP!" the elemental girl cracked, elbowing him in a friendly manner. "C'mon, let's get this over with!"

Princess Bubblegum, equipped with her own fireproof suit and a sort of technical devices, waved at the teenagers in the distance. Monitors that measured the volcano's activity and a few banana guards, all of them wearing their own protective suits, fenced the surrounding area. The candy princess left her analyses for a moment, ready to instruct the young fire ruler.

"Alright Flame Princess, this is what you're gonna do. You're going to dig your way in this exact spot I'm stepping on, and then you will start your descent. When you cover approximately 1567 miles, you'll wait for the eruption and just before it hits you, you'll attack it with your best fireblast! And I mean your _best _fireblast, put all you've got on it, all your strength, all your emotions, all your—!"

"I get it. I just have to remember how you heartlessly lied to me and let it all burn." The flaming girl said stoically.

"If you want it that way, I don't care what method you use to pep yourself. Just do it and procure to do it right!" Bubblegum brought her hands to her pink features, giving off a concerned glance. "The destiny of everyone in Ooo lies in your hands…"

"What about me, Princess?" Finn meddled in, "What should I do?"

The pink ruler placed her hands on her hips, furrowing her brow at the boy. "Finn, we already talked about this. You did your part, now is Flame Princess' turn to act."

"Y-yes but…! I thought!"

"Enough, Finn!" this was the fire king talking, "I know what I have to do, and I can do it on my own. You stay away now, things will get dangerous for someone _like you_."

"Fine…" the human sighed, stepping aside to let the girls take their corresponding positions. "Your majesties…"

**x~x~x~x~x**

Princess Bubblegum stood beside Finn, holding a portable monitor in her hands, which were shaking in excitement. With her lab coat and safety goggles on, it was easy to see that her scientific side was starting to take over, as the time for the subterranean explosion approached its deadline.

Bonnibel peeked at the timer on her device and smirked, "Okay! If my calculations are correct, in about two point six minutes… we're going to see some serious biz…!" The crazy scientist mode had been engaged; there was no doubt about it.

Now that the gummy princess, her banana guards and the human boy were barricaded at a good long distance, far from the underground volcano, the show could begin. Finn gazed at the base camp where they were taking refuge and locked his blue eyes on the screens of the surrounding monitors, now displaying the image of the fire princess as she made her way deeper and deeper into the earth. If something were to go wrong on her mission, he would be the first one to know it, and he was ready to step in if necessary.

"Finn, you can take off that suit now!" Bubblegum insisted, "We're safe in here!"

The human boy nodded, but kept the isolating costume on. He had to make sure Flame Princess was okay, and rescue her from danger if the situation demanded it. Something inside him was telling him to do so. He wasn't completely sure though, but it could be his gut or his brain… maybe his heart.

Soon, the awaited moment arrived. Princess Bubblegum and her banana guards focused on the larger screen, each of them taking notes of their observations (although only Bubblegum's were useful). Flame Princess positioned her body in the middle of a narrow tunnel, the neck of the hot abyss. Like a shaken bottle of gassy soda, magma and flames began to rise towards her, cramping the spilling energy at the tight entrance.

"Come… I'm waiting for ya here…" the young princess hissed.

Then, the detonation occurred. The brave Flame King received the explosion with her open palms, feeling how the expansive wave pushed her body outwards. Holding on as hard as she could, Flame Princess focused her anger and her fear into her hands, releasing her own energy in the form of a powerful fireblast. As calculated by Bubblegum, the two forces collided, matching each other in a come and go, similar to that of a game of tug-of-war.

"It's… working! My hypothesis was correct!" the gummy ruler celebrated, tossing her notes into the air.

The banana men clapped, joining the party, but someone in the room wasn't willing to do the same. Finn stepped in front of the pink scientist, his features showing anguish. The term wasn't very clear in his vocabulary, but he knew from experience that a "hypothesis" wasn't something reliable.

"Does that mean that you sent FP into that pressure cooker without knowing if your plan would work or not?" the boy demanded, seemingly angry.

"It was the only option we had left." Bubblegum explained, facing him gravely. "It was either that or letting Ooo burn. The probabilities of her succeeding were high enough, so yeah, I sent her in based on a hypothesis! What else did you want me to do?"

She felt the anguish of the nervous human and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, offering him a repentant smile. "Don't worry Finn, Flame Princess is strong and she's doing fine. Everything will be over soon, she only has to keep the convergence for one more minute and then—"

An alarm of warning began to beat out of the monitors, interrupting the princess and the boy. They both turned their eyes towards the screen where Flame Princess struggled to maintain the convergence going. Her features denoted strive and pain, showing that something was indeed going wrong, something that dodged Bubblegum's extensive research and calculations.

"Princess!" A banana guard called, "The monitor with Flame Princess' vital signs is showing irregular patterns!"

"This other one appears to measure Flame Princess' blast in contrast with the volcano, and Miss FP has begun to lose!" another one alerted.

The leader of the Candy Kingdom ran over to check on the girl's vital signs. Of course, Flame Princess' body temperature continued to rise exponentially as well as her heart rate. She didn't like those numbers though, the young king's respiratory rate was concerning. Flame Princess wasn't struggling with the eruption; she was struggling with a physical abnormality.

Princess Bubblegum turned to the screen, noticing with fear how the flaming ruler had lowered one of her arms —weakening the strength of her attack— to press her hand on the lower section of her chest. Then it hit her, Flame Princess' elemental matrix was undergoing the process of stabilization. As the girl gained control of her limitless power, she began to lose consistency in her blast. Her own body was preventing her from releasing the energy necessary to balance that of the volcano.

"Dang it! How come I never foresaw that something like this could happen?" Bubblegum exclaimed. "I relied on my calculations, her chances of succeeding guaranteed that nothing could go wrong!" In a quick manner, the scientist pulled the small microphone attached to her lab coat, hoping to be able to reach the young fire ruler. "Flame Princess, you are losing energy!"

"_Yeah? Tell me somethin' I don't know!" _came her stressed response.

"I'm sorry. What I meant is that you have to find a way to force more power out. Fire elementals control their strength through their emotions, you must find a more powerful motivation!"

"_It's easier said than done!" _Flame Princess roared.

"Okay, okay… Just let me think. It seems that your anger isn't going to be useful now that your matrix has started to stabilize…" Bubblegum reasoned, "Finn, you are her ex, so you gotta be able awake more powerful emotions in her—where the heck is Finn?!"

The banana guards exchanged a nervous look and then shrugged. "He took a fire extinguisher with him and then left, like two seconds ago…"

Princess Bubblegum freaked out. "He did what?!"

**x~x~x~x~x**

If fire elementals could sweat, Flame Princess' face would be soaked in it. Measuring forces with nature was taking away the best of her. It was impressing. Never before had the young king felt so insignificant in comparison to another being. Glob, even her father was afraid of her power! And now that she was starting to feel helpless for the first time since she stole the throne, Flame Princess had to admit that she had grown a conceited sense of pride, and Mother Nature herself had just wounded it badly.

Was there some lesson that had to be learned out of this situation? There had to be one. Otherwise, if she died, at least it wouldn't be in vain. Her knee hit the ground, her arms trembled and her fireblast grew weaker with each second that passed. _I have to hold on!_ The king shouted to herself. _Even if I fail, I should have been able to restrain some damage, and Ooo won't be… destroyed! _

This thought boosted her power for a moment. Sadly, when the temporal excitement vanished, Flame Princess' hands were deprived of fire to shoot. That was it; the eruption would drag her with it and burn down the Grasslands to ashes. The resigned king waited for her end in defeat, however…

The loud hiss of dying flames forced her eyes open. Then she noticed Finn, attacking the fire with an extinguisher. Concern struck her heart almost immediately.

"Finn! What are you doing here?! Are you insane?!"

"Yeah! I came to help ya, FP!" the boy grinned. "Peebles said we just needed to contain the eruption for forty seconds! With this baby here, I think we're gonna make it!"

"Finn…" Flame Princess sighed, shaking her head in disappointment. "There's no way that plan's gonna work…"

"No! It's perfectly—!" the extinguisher soon ran out of foam. "Oh bread balls…"

Seeing that the explosion was coming forward again, the young king had no option but to stand between it and the human, blocking the narrow passage with her body. The outburst of raging magma and fire smashed Flame Princess' back, pushing all the oxygen out of her beaten lungs. She grinded her teeth, facing the boy with a striving yet worried look. Her fingernails and toes had been dug into the rocky walls, shattering the surface around them.

"Finn… Get out…" she begged, hoping to save his life.

"No way! I gonna stand by you! We're getting out of this one together!"

"We're gonna die together, idiot!" Flame Princess replied, losing the last of her patience. "Is that what you want?!"

A humble expression seized the boy's features as he lowered his head. "Look, you asked me to be completely honest so… yeah… that's what I want." Finn turned to stare into her desperate eyes and managed to muster a smile. "I don't want to leave you alone, Flame Princess. All I want is to be with you, always. You know, I never actually got over you… Guess it's too cliché for a moment like this but…. I think it's because… I love you."

"Finn… Why are you so dumb?" the king sighed in defeat, letting her head hung down.

Finn waited in silence for another reply, watching anxiously how Flame Princess lost her grip on the rock, little by little. Perhaps his declaration hadn't been convincing enough, or perhaps he just messed her brain up for good. The flaming ruler wasn't moving. She simply stood there like a statue, fighting against the pressure that the erupting volcano was exerting on her exhausted body.

Her body… The young hero noticed something different in her armor. Steam was rising out of it. Through his protective suit, Finn felt her temperature equaling that of the magma spouting behind her. Suddenly, he felt a shiver running down his spine as a pair of blazing eyes darted at his. It was the most frightening sight our human hero had ever encountered, he felt intimidated.

It wasn't hate or anger what fueled that infernal stare, but sheer determination. The fire being before him extended her open palm towards him and smirked.

"Finn…" Flame Princess breathed, her voice was somewhat distorted by the ever increasing power building up within her. "Remember when you said… that you were going to defy nature for me?"

The human nodded, speechless.

"Well…." A trail of magma ran down her glowing eyes. "I'm about to do the same for you…"

Before he could speak, Finn found himself being blasted out to the surface by a powerful beam of hot steam. The last thing he heard before leaving the entrails of the earth was Flame Princess' voice screaming _**"Inferno Shot!"**_ and then, there was silence.

* * *

**_This is the prologue to an idea that hasn't left my mind in a while. I think it can grow to be a short multi-chaptered story, but I'm not really sure of what to do about it because I owe you updates for the 'Awakening of Heroes' and 'Tales of the Alternate Universe: Amaranth'. I'm about to go on hiatus for a few weeks to deal with college and life, so I'll leave this here and if you'd like me to develop this idea and continue this story, just tell me and I'll give it my best._**

**_Hope you enjoyed it, see you in a few weeks!_**


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